


Apolo Anton Ohno, Asshole

by CupcakeGirlA



Category: Olympics RPF, Real Person Fiction, Speed Skating RPF, Sports RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-26
Updated: 2011-12-26
Packaged: 2017-10-28 05:13:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/304130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CupcakeGirlA/pseuds/CupcakeGirlA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To put it simply, Apolo can be a bit of an asshole. JR sort of loves him anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apolo Anton Ohno, Asshole

Apolo can be a bit of an asshole. Well, that’s an over simplification, but basically true. It’s not that he does it on purpose. It’s just that he’s really sure of himself. 16 years of talking himself up for competitions, of believing in himself when no one else seemed too, of making comeback after comeback, of ignoring haters and the snide comments in the press, all have led to a certain unrelenting self-confidence. He thinks he can do anything. He knows he’s the best in the world. There is no room for doubt in Apolo Anton Ohno’s life. Anyone who subscribes to his twitter feed can clearly see that.

So in reality, Apolo can be a bit of an ass, but do it with a genuine and mostly innocent smile on his face at the same time; which is maddening for someone like JR, who knows Apolo Ohno on a personal level. JR has known Apolo for most of his life. He’d looked up to him when he was little and Apolo raced against and played with JR’s two older brothers. When Apolo had gained national fame at the 2002 Olympics, JR had begun to look up to him on a completely different level. He’d wanted to skate like Apolo, wanted to win like Apolo, wanted to be Apolo. But now, at 19, JR knows Apolo beyond the public façade of the speed skating legend (sorta) named after the Greek God.

JR’s been training with him on and off since he was 15, and actively since he was 17. He’d seen Apolo when he was fully focused on a race. Seen him when he was training so hard his legs ached afterward. He’d seen him when his back was acting up, and giving him trouble in the form of debilitating back spasms. Seen the look in his eyes when he sat in a restaurant and ordered the healthiest thing on the menu, while watching the couple at the next table share the most delicious looking brownie sundae either of them had ever seen before. He KNOWS Apolo. He’s played video games with him, gone on runs with him at 5am when the world is just beginning to wake up, and sat beside him on long plane/bus rides in the middle of the night. He’s witnessed Apolo in his many moods and many personalities. Goofy, giggly, exhausted, determined, hungry, pained, anxious, angry, sad, even turned on. He’s received pep-talks from him, had philosophical discussions and strategy arguments with him, and even shared late night rambling phone calls with him.

So it could be annoying when Apolo turned on the charm, or gave an interview and said something that to Apolo was a completely reasonable and natural thing to say, but to everyone else seemed completely douchey. JR has learned to mostly NOT take these comments to heart. He can take a lot of crap from Apolo, because he sees the reasoning behind it, and realizes that it’s not a personal insult when Apolo says some of the stuff he says. The same cannot be said for many of their teammates.

The nature of their sport is two-fold. Those you train with are your teammates and your rivals. You compete against them in the individual races, and with them in the relay. So for short track skaters life is a balancing act. You want to be friends with the guys you see every day, that you train with and compete with. But at the same time it’s hard to be friends with the guys you’re trying to beat all the time. For most skaters though, there’s the added pressure of being away from home, from family, and from childhood or school friends. For most skaters making it to the National team, means moving across country to skate in Salt Lake City, and leaving pretty much everyone and everything behind. It’s hard to do that and stay completely unattached to the guys who are going through the same thing you are. Real honest friendships are formed, but more often than not, it’s a mutual respect and fondness that develops. You develop the ability to have fun on and off the ice, and switch that all off when the starting gun fires.

JR’s been lucky, he thinks. He’s made genuine friendships on the team, some deeper than others. He can honestly say Jordan Malone is one of the funniest guys he’s ever known, and he knows they’ll be friends for way longer than either of them will be skating competitively. Simon and Travis are great guys. They’re fun to hang out with, and while he would notice them if they left suddenly, he doesn’t feel as close to them as he does to Jordan.

And then there’s Apolo.

JR’s relationship with Apolo is mutli-layered and not completely defined. He doesn’t remember ever having a single conversation with Apolo about what they are too each other. He just knows it’s more than friends, more than teammates, and less than a real relationship. He’s close to Apolo, closer than pretty much everyone else in SLC, other than Shani Davis, who is hands down Apolo’s best friend in the entire world.

Shani and Jordan know. Well not everything, but about the more-than-friends thing. Which is sometimes good, because it gives JR a cover when the guys want to go out together for some ridiculous reason, when JR had plans with Apolo that involved staying home with take-out and Apolo’s big bed. But it was also kind of sucky because sometimes Shani looks at JR and gets this big grin on his face like he knew exactly what JR and Apolo had been doing the night before, which honestly kind of makes JR want to throttle Apolo for squealing while fighting hard not to blush and run away. But it also meant that for some reason JR had become the unofficial go-between, running interference for the rest of the guys and Apolo.

For example: A video crew from Life comes to do a piece on the training necessary for short track. Obviously they chose Apolo to be their star athlete. This irks the rest of the guys a little bit. Hey, they made the Olympic team too! But JR kind of understands. Apolo Anton Ohno is a household name. Everyone knows him. No one knows the rest of them, and as far as Time is concerned it’s viewers that matter the most. They want Apolo because Apolo’s the one they and their audience know. So Apolo spends the whole day training in front of the cameras. Turn belt exercises, dry land training, in the gym, on the ice, even doing the stair work-out. And the whole time Travis is right there next to him, running laps, holding the belt for counter weight, etc. And not once does Apolo introduce him to the reporter, to the sound guy, or to the camera man. Travis is a pretty chill guy, he doesn’t stir up shit and he rarely gets angry, so it’s not him JR has to deal with. It’s Simon and Jordan, who are pissed on Travis’s behalf.

JR gets pulled into a closet by Jordan, who’s still in his skinsuit and skates, and is really ticked off. The situation is explained to JR, who has just returned from rehab in Colorado and is not quite sure what to do about the problem. But Jordan gives him that look. The one that says if he’s the one fucking Apolo, he gets to deal with his social fuck-ups as well. So JR agrees, and is released from the closet a minute later.

The afternoon session ends a little later than usual. JR only skated earlier that morning, he’s being easing back into practice by the trainers and coaching staff, so he spent the afternoon stretching and lifting in the gym, consequently he’s already in his street clothes. The rest of the guys change quickly and head out. JR finds Apolo watching the reporter try and skate around on the ice, while Apolo laughs and offers tips.

Apolo smiles at JR when he approaches.

“You taking it easy?” he asks. It’s the end of JR’s first week back, and everyone’s worried and anxious that he’s overdoing it. JR gives him the look, the same look he’s been giving him all week each time he asked how JR was doing. Apolo laughs. “Ok! Ok!” he turns back to watch the reporter skate again. The guys really not doing too bad for his age and this being his first time on skates. “Lower! You have to be lower!” Apolo calls laughing again. The reporter waddles over to the pads, where Apolo and JR are leaning watching him skate.

“I don’t know how you guys do this all day everyday!” he laughs. JR grins at him.

“You get used to it eventually!” he jokes. He holds out a hand, and the reporter takes it. “JR Celski,” he introduces himself. The reporter smiles.

“Sean Gregory, Time,” he shakes JR’s hand and releases it. “It’s nice to meet you. Apolo was just telling me during the break in filming about his teammates. Are you the Texan or the fellow Washingtonian?” he asks. JR laughs.

“I’m the Seattle boy. Jordan’s even shorter than I am and way whiter!” he says. Sean laughs.

“Then there’s Simon and Travis who I believe I’ve already met?” Sean asks. Apolo nods.

“Yeah, from this morning,” he explains. Sean grins, wobbling on his skates a little.

“You guys done for the day?” JR asks. Sean nods, almost going backwards to land on his butt. Apolo reaches out and snags him by the arms, pulling him to lean against the pads. Apolo laughs.

“I think so, we still going to dinner?” Apolo asks. JR nods.

“Yep,” JR says. With that they help the poor reporter off the ice and out of his skates, and watch as the camera crew packs up and gets ready to leave. Shaking their hands again Gregory thanks them both and then waves them away. When they get to the locker room the rest of the guys are already gone.

JR plops down on the bench and pulls out his phone to check his messages, leaning back against the wall as Apolo skims out of his skinsuit and gets ready to jump into the shower. Apolo makes small talk as he gathers his shit together, and JR waits patiently as he showers and then dries off and gets dressed. He puts his phone away when Apolo starts threading a belt through his jeans, preparing to get up as soon as Apolo’s done. But instead of sitting down and putting his shoes on, Apolo turns to look at JR, a contemplative look on his face.

“Ok, what did I do this time?” he asks. JR fights back a smile. Apolo can definitely be a bit of an asshole, but he isn’t stupid. He can figure things out if you give him enough time, and enough hints. He’d figured out JR’s role as go between shortly after JR had been forced into it for the first time. The only good part was that Apolo seemed to be quite accepting of the entire situation, and genuinely wanted to know when he’d pissed someone off.

“Travis,” JR says. “You never introduced him.” JR watches Apolo’s forehead crinkle up a little.

“It’s Travis,” he says in reply. JR lets himself smile then. He knows exactly what Apolo meant by the simple statement. Travis was Travis. He doesn’t get mad. He doesn’t get pissed off, and he isn’t shy. Travis is quiet, and doesn’t like to talk all that much unless he knows you pretty well, which could make interactions with the press a little bit awkward. All of this had probably contributed to Apolo’s not introducing him to Sean Gregory. Apolo had, in his head, decided that Travis probably wouldn’t say much anyway, and if he wanted to talk he could introduce himself. “Huh,” Apolo says biting his lip. “Is this Jordan’s doing?” he asks. JR grins wider.

“A little bit of Simon’s influence too I think,” he says. Apolo rolls his eyes.

“I wasn’t ignoring Travis. I wasn’t trying to hog the spotlight,” Apolo protests. JR laughs a little.

“I’m aware,” he replies.

“What? No lecture?” Apolo asks. JR leans forward to peck Apolo on the lips.

“I’m not your mother, Apolo. I say something when it needs to be said. I understand your reasoning, you don’t have to defend yourself to me. But next time a reporter comes to interview you at the Oval, take the time to introduce them around, preferably on camera. Even if they decide not to use any of the footage on air, you’ll at least know you didn’t piss anyone off by not doing it in the first place,” JR explains.

“Lesson learned…” Apolo says, tugging his shoes on, and getting his bag ready to go.

“If it makes you feel any better, Apolo, you’re doing much better than you used too,” JR says, gathering his own bag out of his locker. Apolo laughs.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t have a boyfriend willing to point out these things before,” he says heading out of the locker room, leaving JR standing alone, a shocked look on his face.

A moment later he takes off after Apolo.

“Wait wait wait!” he calls, catching up with the older man. Apolo turns a bemused smile on JR.

“What?” he asks.

“Just when did we become boyfriends?” JR asks. Apolo looks at him puzzled.

“JR, we’ve been dating for a while now. We eat meals together regularly, at predetermined times and places as in dates. You have your own drawer in my dresser, and your own key to my house. I’ve let you drive my car. My CAR, JR! You regularly try and alter my social behavior in way that quite frankly is disturbingly like trying to ‘train me’,” here he makes air quotes, “and as far as I’m concerned, we’ve been sleeping with each other exclusively for like a year now. How is this NOT dating?” he asks. JR opens his mouth but closes it when he has no immediate response to Apolo’s words. He gawps like a fish, and Apolo starts to laugh. He slings an arm over JR’s shoulders. “And you guys think I’m socially inept!” he teases, pulling JR out of the oval, and toward the parking lot.

JR lets himself be shoved into Apolo’s passenger seat, still unable to formulate a proper response to Apolo’s revelation. They are dating. They really are and JR doesn’t know what to make of the news that he is dating Apolo Anton Ohno. That Apolo is his boyfriend! Halfway to the sushi place Apolo had picked out for that nights dinner, he turns to look at Apolo, who keeps glancing at him and grinning.

“Would it help if I came up with a cute little nickname for you? Started calling you Honey-Bun or Sweetie-Pie?” he asks. JR blanches.

“Oh hell no!” he replies.

“What about Love-Muffin, or Cup-Cake?” Apolo asks, fighting huge belly-laughs. His eyes get really big then. “You know how much I love my cup-cakes, JR! It could be a euphemism! People would never catch on!” JR punches him in the shoulder.

“You are not calling me anything but my name, or I’m cutting you off. No sex, if you use a silly nickname for me!” JR argues. They stop at a stoplight and Apolo gave into his hysterical laughter.

“Now I know we’re in a relationship, if you’re using no-sex as a form of punishment!” he laughs. JR feels his face flush, and turns to look out the window. He bites his cheek to keep from joining in Apolo’s laughter.

See, Apolo can be a real asshole. He says arrogant things, and always thinks he is the best at everything. He makes social blunders, and can be really annoying. He does things like forgetting to introduce his friends to reporters, and apparently forgets to tell his boyfriend that they are actually dating, not just messing around. But he is also a really great guy. He’s fun, and smart, and could be really hilarious when he wants to be. He gives excellent blow jobs, and has an ass to die for. And he is apparently JR’s boyfriend. The more he thinks about it the more it makes sense, and the more JR likes the idea of it. So JR gets to have all the benefits and all the problems associated with being Apolo’s boyfriend, which he figures, kind of even out. Fantastic sex equalizing the need for behavior monitoring. Dealing with Shani’s knowing glances, and Jordan’s pointed anger, and getting to see more of Apolo’s real self than anyone else. In the end, he decides, it seems like a pretty good deal.

 

The End.


End file.
